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Living in a very tiny one bedroom apartment, without air conditioning, in temperatures that make flip flops too hot to wear, presents some interesting challenges, particularly (for myself) when making a large quilt. The size of this tablecloth is 104" x 64". For this reason, I sandwiched, basted and quilted only the actual size of the table top (82" x 42") on the first go-round, then added the borders once the centre section was completed. Constructing the centre of the quilt in this way worked very well; there was smaller layout space required and less bulk to fit into the machine. When it came time to add the borders, I did encounter difficulty in the sandwiching and basting process, because at this stage, the quilt was full size, and our apartment had not grown. Having squared up the centre section, it was possible to sandwich and baste one side at a time, keeping the fabrics taut. This is certainly not a preferable method of quilt c…

Marking fabric for a quilt, especially for a large project, always presents interesting challenges. There are many very good options available now, such as water erasable, air erasable, iron away, etc., which all work well for smaller projects. However, when working on a 106" x 66" quilt, that will take weeks to finish, all of the above options have their drawbacks. Quite by accident, while travelling in Germany this summer, I found a chalk cartridge set called "Kreideminen-Set", by hoechstmass Signet (I have seen it on eBay since then), that made marking the quilt a very easy process, even on the dark coloured fabric. Being chalk, I knew that it would be necessary to remark some of it. However, when that time came, the chalk marks were still visible enough to use as a guide, and at that point, I used an air erasable pen on one area at a time. I found this procedure much more efficient then wiping off the water erasable marks once th…

(The first draft combining the symbols and motifs into a continuous design.)

Through the ages the people of the southern regions of France in Provence and Languedoc, have revered and celebrated the generosity of the light and the natural beauty of their land. These colours and images have been immortalized in various art forms. The repertoire of motifs and symbols that has develpoed through local traditions is vast and covers many areas of nature (flowers, trees,fruits and veg, animals, etc.) , as well as objects representing sentiments of life (hearts, stars, crosses, etc.).

When recently designing a quilt, whose main focus was to be a "sanglier", or the wild boar found in the thickets and brambles of the French countryside, I chose designs that would likely be found in these regions. The centre motif is a very large "Sanglier". He is surrounded by scrolls and vines of thistles, artichoke blossoms, acanthus leaves, ghekos, cigales, e…